Inochi Mijikashi, Koiseyo Furyou Shounen!

There are a few manga I’ve read where the synopsis was brief and strange, and this one was one of them. Seriously, there are only two sentences on MAL: “If you don't date her, you'll die! That was the prediction made to that delinquent boy. but what will be his destiny...?” I was bracing myself for a cheesy, corny, and lame short shoujo but I was taken aback by how funny this series was. First of all, there’s this likable Kuroiwa guy who’s completely misunderstood and judged because of his red hair (not so uncommon). He is capable of being a sweetheart, though, as the readercan see when he’s out on a date with Misaki-chan. If anyone were to observe him being himself, they’d find out he wasn’t what the rumors said. Of course, I feel absolutely terrible for such a nice person being plagued with inexplicably bad luck. If every time I stepped outside something would hit me, I’d never leave the house. The weirdest stuff happens to him! He’s almost squashed by construction beams, desks fall on him, just anything horrible that can happen does. So for something good to befall him, say like, for him to fall in love, that would be the sweetest thing, right? The mangaka does a terrific job setting him up for this story. Of the strange elements in this manga, the strangest is probably that old man that tells Kuroiwa his destiny. It’s never revealed fully in the story whether or not he’s actually a god, but his predictions are correct so far. He doesn’t seem to have any powers other than that of clairvoyance, though. At first I thought he might have been an older relation of Misaki who pretended to be some god and wanted to hook up his lonely granddaughter with a nice boy, but that really isn’t the case. His purpose for talking to and advising Kuroiwa is a complete mystery. Maybe he’s just a goofy good-doer? Misaki Yuu has that cute innocence about her. She’s aware of her beauty and knows that though people find her attractive, they also think she is unapproachable. Therefore, she likes Kuroiwa’s forwardness with her. Her reasons for being alone most of the time were not to my liking, though, perhaps maybe because I couldn’t sympathize with them. Her cuteness is something I think Kuroiwa would find very appealing, though ;) The artwork was pretty decent. It’s typical to most shoujo with the big-eyed long-haired girls and cool-looking males. I thought Misaki’s hair was kind of flat, but otherwise I had no complaints with the way things were drawn. The mangaka did well to make Kuroiwa look rough at times and a nice guy at others, and Misaki was as adorable as ever. That old man never looked like a real old man, though; he was always illustrated with that chibi stance after his first appearance, but that was all right given his comedic role. All through the manga I found myself laughing a lot, though. It was hilarious seeing Kuroiwa just barely miss being hit by objects because he came to Misaki’s side. Even though he asked her out simply because he wanted to keep himself safe, seeing the two of them grow closer as they got to know each other was adorable. The methods that Kuroiwa had to take in order to be with Misaki were humorous as well. His reputation as a “delinquent” was known at Misaki’s school, and her brother was extremely protective of her, among other conflicts. The very last problem was not settled very well, so I was disappointed, but I still really enjoyed reading this manga. It’s rare to find manga under ten chapters to be any good because of length, but I thought this one was a gem. It originated from a oneshot, too, so the mangaka did a good job adding to this story to make it the way it is now.